Optimizing Long-Term Care for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) Survivors: Framework for Establishing a New Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Survivorship Program

Outcomes of a Formal Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Survivorship Program on Screening for Late Effects

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) survivors may benefit from routine screening for post-transplant complications. However, the impact of formal survivorship efforts to promote screening adherence is uncertain. The effect of a formal HCT survivorship program to promote screening adherence was evaluated. We conducted a retrospective analysis of an academic formal HCT survivorship program with primary and specialty consult components. We included patients who underwent allogeneic HCT and were alive and relapse-free 1-year post-HCT. We excluded patients who died <2-year post-HCT or transferred care. We measured screening adherence to cardiovascular, pulmonary, ocular, secondary cancer, and endocrine evaluations. The primary outcome was proportion of patients completing ≥1 evaluation per screening domain prior to 2-year post-HCT. We examined screening adherence during 3 time periods: presurvivorship (2012 to 2014) and 2 postsurvivorship (2016 to 2018 and 2019 to 2021) using multivariate logistic and Cox proportional hazards regression. Four hundred ten patients (2012 to 2014: n = 136, 2016 to 2018: n = 153, 2019 to 2021: n = 121) were included. Compared to the presurvivorship period (16.9%), patients in 2016 to 2018 (47.7%, odds ratio [OR] = 4.9, P < .0001) and 2019 to 2021 (34.7%, OR = 2.7, P = .001) were more likely to complete ≥1 evaluation per screening domain. Except for pulmonary function tests in 2019 to 2021, median time to completion of survivorship evaluations was shorter in the survivorship periods compared to presurvivorship. Patients who completed a formal HCT survivorship consult in 2016 to 2018 and 2019 to 2021 were more likely to complete ≥1 evaluation per screening domain (OR = 5.1, P = .0004). Survivorship consult had similar effect on the primary screening outcome in 2016 to 2018 and 2019 to 2021 (consult × time interaction OR: 2.5, P = .2). However, patients who received a consult in 2019 to 2021 were more likely to complete all screenings (consult × time interaction: OR = 5.7, P = .03). Our HCT survivorship program with primary and specialty components improved screening adherence. Additional studies are needed to evaluate efficacy, dissemination, and implementation of formal HCT survivorship programs.